West Ham were held to a well-fought draw against Brighton at the Amex Stadium this afternoon.
The Hammers looked out of their depth against Graham Potter’s new look side, with Brighton playing with energy in the first-half and West Ham struggled to match them or get into a rhythm.
Manuel Pellegrini bought off Jack Wilshere at half-time to bring on Michail Antonio, which proved to be a good move. He offered much more upfront to get West Ham going and brought Javier Hernandez into play. Needless to say, this paid off as Manuel Lanzini fed through Hernandez to make it 1-0.
Brighton responded immediately, looking to use Glenn Murray and Leandro Troussard to cause Issa Diop and Angelo Ogbonna a nightmare. Troussard despatched his goal brilliantly, although the immediacy of the goal reinforced West Ham’s defensive frailties.
It won’t be the result that West Ham fans are looking for but it was not disastrous. Normally a banana skin fixture, the Hammers seem to have avoided a morale crushing defeat to a team who are anticipated to finish in the bottom half.
Equally, it wasn’t a convincing performance. Let’s have a look at the starting XI and see how they faired.
